Design of wideband patch radiator phased arrays

A design methodology that has been successfully used to obtain probe-fed patch radiator phased-array bandwidths of approximately 15% is reported. This methodology is based on the use of an accurate numerical design code to synthesize the patch radiator architecture. A second design step mathematically couples this numerical design with double-tuned matching networks, which have been previously used in matching patches. In this procedure all probes are treated as independent input ports of the patch, and the patch radiator´s scattering matrix is explicitly calculated. The resulting patch radiator/matching network system is predicted to achieve 2:1 voltage standing wave ratio frequency bandwidths that are over a factor of 2 greater than that of a simple patch alone. These analytical predictions have been verified through tests of wideband patch arrays synthesized using this procedure.<>